As global demand for critical energy transition minerals (CETMs) continues to increase, local processing and value addition is the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s fastest route to industrialisation and economic diversification.
The recent 9th SADC Industrialisation Week (SIW) and Exhibition, held in Durban South Africa, highlighted a key initiative promoting responsible mineral extraction.
Supported financially by the International Climate Initiative (IKI), the five-year regional project on responsible and inclusive energy transition mineral value chains is led by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). It is promoting responsible mining and sustainable industrialisation across the six SADC countries.
From copper in Zambia, cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), manganese in South Africa and lithium in Zimbabwe, the SADC region is key to a clean energy future and to green industrialisation around the world.
Held under the theme, Resilient, Sustainable and Inclusive Industrialisation through Infrastructure Development, Agricultural and Critical Minerals Transformation in Pursuit of a Just World, the SIW underscored the critical importance of responsible mineral extraction.
“Our work, through the project on promoting ESG principles and responsible mining directly contributes to sustainable industrialisation because environmental governance is critical in shaping industrial policy across the SADC region,” said ECA Economic Affairs Officer, Oliver Maponga, noting that the responsible exploitation and value addition of critical energy transition minerals in the region was a key contributor to value chains development, industrialisation, transformation and economic diversification.
The project is being implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe which hold vast reserves of cobalt, copper lithium, manganese, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements. The implementing partners in the project include the African Union Commission’s African Minerals Development Centre; the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits Enterprise); WWF Germany, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and Projekt Consult GmbH. The project will result in the development of ESG compliant mining policies, improved environmental and climate monitoring practices while ensuring participation and benefit sharing of local mining communities in mining-related governance and the strengthened capacity of communities in mining areas.
A panel convened by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and ECA during the Industrialisation Week, on “Towards Competitive and Resilient Industrialisation in SADC” focused on enhancing industrial competitiveness by aligning regional policies with the needs of enterprises, traders, and mining communities and on artisanal small-scale miners as key actors along the CETMs value chain.
The discussion focused on how artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) contributes to the critical energy transition mineral value chains and how they should not be left behind in the sharing of benefits.
“Artisanal and small-scale miners occupy important nodes in the supply of critical energy transition minerals as reliable sources of the minerals despite their technological, financial and skills limitations,” said Maponga. “We need to ensure that the benefits that result from responsible mining and processing of critical energy transition minerals trickle down to the entire mining value chain.”
The empowerment of artisanal and small-scale miners in responsible mining value chains is a key recommendation in the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.
Speaking at the SIW, the SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi, noted that the regional body was endowed with the mineral resources, markets and partnerships needed to industrialise. What is needed is to prioritise industrialization through investing in infrastructure and skills, transforming agricultural value chains, and beneficiating critical energy transition minerals at source.
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